The British Minister for Defence, Michael Fallon, has announced that his country is going to reform the Free Syrian Army. This means that his government is going to take over the training programme for the so-called «moderate» combatants which was launched by President Obama in 2014.

The Free Syrian Army was created by France in 2011, and headed by the Libyan chief of al-Qaïda, Abdelhakim Belhaj. The operation was presented as an aid to the Syrian deserters led by Colonel Riad el-Asaad. Progressively, the members of the FSA joined al-Qaïda. In 2016, the title of the Free Syrian Army was resuscitated by Turkey, who used it to designate the Turkmen militia.

As for the United States, they spent half a billion dollars for the training of these new «rebel combatants». However, the totality of the people they trained have now joined al-Qaïda.

It is thus very probable that the new British programme hides further support for al-Qaïda.